Marrying my husband's greatest rival

Actions have consequences.

He looks at me like he's trying to see my lies, then heads onto the ship. I take that as my que to follow him onto the ship, but I don't follow him. I wait hoping my plan works. He's gone for a few minutes and returns with a blue file, but he doesn't hand it to me... his second guessing this, I could see the wheels turning in his head.

"Look, if you don't say anything, I won't either. I'll be quick. You can even hold the file open for me."

I tell him that seems to get him on my side.

He opens the file and holds it up for me. I remove my phone from my pocket and pretend to be looking at it, then at the notes he shows me his still a bit cautious, but I find what I'm looking for before he shuts the file closed.

"What did you say your name was?"

He asks.

"Grace, I'm new, still learning things. Everything seems to be in order. Thank you so much you may have just saved my life."

I didn't get the sheet as Reece instructed me to, but I took a picture.

He takes out his phone and seems to be checking on something. I thanked him one more time, then turned to leave. I'd just stepped off the ship when I heard him say...

"Your name is not on the list for new recruits."

Too damn bad buddy, maybe you should have checked before you showed me that file, I thought to myself...

"Today is my first day on the job."

I say, turning to face him.

"I'll have to confirm that."

As I waited for him to make his call, I was already thinking about my next move. I've never been a fighter. Violence was never really my thing, but I knew a few things about pressure points. I'm contemplating whether I should just knock him out and make a run for it when two bulky men come walking in our direction.

I'm f****d I should have taken him out while I had the chance, I think to myself... think dammit you might still have a chance.

"What seems to be the problem?"

They ask at the same time.

"Just checking on something."

The guy that showed me the list, answers.

"We got a call in on the radio, she has to come with us."

"Look, this is all just one big misunderstanding...

Before I could finish, the two bulky men grabbed hold of either side of my arms and practically hurled me away.

"Relax, we are here to help you."

One of them whispers and my racing heart slows down just a bit.

But just moments before we reached the car where I should have met Reece, shots were fired, and my blood ran cold... in no way would this have ever happened with Lutz... he was always a step ahead. Reece ws an unorganized asshole, doing things without thinking it through or even working out a better plan than this one.

"Run!"

One of them yells and I do. I run for my damn life until I see the car. Once I'm inside, Reece takes off.

"Did you get the list?"

He asked.

Hey, are you good? Did you get hurt or something? Would have been an appropriate question right now, don't you think, but I bit down on my tongue and didn't say shit... I'm fuming. This is another thing Lutz would have never done. He would never let me go in there alone.

"Yeah"

I whisper.

"What the hell took you so long then?"

I hardly have a chance to say or do anything before he punches me on the side of my face as he drives. I say nothing, still reeling from the blow he gave me on the side of my face. I can see him grip the steering wheel, his chest heaves up and down fast, a clear sign that he is pissed and that he blames me for getting caught.

When we made it back to his house, I handed him my phone and was about to head off when he pulled me back by my hair...

"Not so fast. I lost two men because of your stupid mistakes, and we may even lose our son."

He whispers into my ear from behind.

His hold is tight, my sculp burns as he holds onto my hair and I know nothing I say or do will make him change his mind. Any sign of fighting back will only make him hurt me 10 times more. If I cried, he continued to hurt me until I stopped, then hurt me again when I stopped crying...

I lost my balance as he pulled me by my hair and fell, and he continued to drag me by my hair into the nearest room. He rambled on and on about actions that had consequences, as he kicked and beat me. Curling up into a ball was also, according to him, a sign that I was defending myself.

So I just lay and accepted my fate... I allowed myself, like every other time, to go to a happier place until he was done... I thought about Lutz, about my brothers and sisters and what it would be like to see them again. I thought about how I ended up in the hands of this monster...

Lutz and I stole a briefcase from this guy one night... he found Lutz and I made a deal with him that I would come and work off the money we stole if he left Lutz alive. He agreed now. I couldn't believe that at one point, before the beatings started, I may have cared for him, cared enough to marry him.

I've been so lost in my thoughts I didn't even remember when someone entered the room. All I remembered was Reece's ashen face, the look of fear he had in his eyes and how small he seemed compared to the man that stood over me.